


MagicalMatchMaking

by sebastian2017



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Divorced Erik, Kidfic, M/M, Meet-Cute, single father Erik, single father charles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 18:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18922819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Erik, frazzled single father on a trip to Disney World, meets Charles, equally frazzled single father.





	MagicalMatchMaking

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this in October? lol so glad it's finally done
> 
> this is nothing serious just wanted to write something cute in my favorite place in the world uwu
> 
> CW: food mention

Erik would never say it. Never in a million years would he admit it. Even to his family he wouldn’t say it out loud. He’d sooner die. But… in truth, Erik enjoyed the theme park trips he took with his family. They were chaotic, hot, and full of humans, but they also kept all his children happy, even even that with their wildly different tastes, and there were few things Erik liked more than seeing his children happy and creating memories. And sometimes, he found an odd sort of entertainment in their days here. Though that was certainly among the things he would never say out loud. Erik Lehnsherr was not the sort of man to publicly like Disney. Not now, not in the past, not ever. 

But if his kids did and dragged him along on far too many trips, well, Erik wouldn’t complain about it. There were worse places to be stuck. As of late, the worst Erik ever endured in these trips wasn’t a multitude of humans crowded in stifling heat, it was the increasing of coming with so many children. They were up to five now, Anya, the twins, Nina, and baby Lorna. Erik loved being a father to many. But managing five children under ten in a theme park? Even the most experienced of parents would balk. 

Erik just barely managed when Magda was around, but, of course, even that couldn’t be counted on with small children in the picture. Just before queuing up for the Haunted Mansion, that Wanda had spent all morning begging to go on and would certainly throw a fit if she couldn’t go now, Nina tugged at his hand until Erik crouched down by her. “Yes, ketsele?” 

“Papa, I don’t wanna go on the scary ride,” she complained, pouting up at him. 

“It’s not thaaaat scary,” Pietro said, looking awfully sure of being brave for a boy who’d been too scared to go on Space Mountain that very morning. “Wanda’s way scarier.” 

Before any feuding could break out between the twins, Magda reached forward to take Nina’s hand. “We don’t have to go on it, baby. It’ll probably be good for Lorna to get out of the sun for a while. We’ll probably just find somewhere cool to sit while you four ride. Will you be okay with the kids on your own, Erik?” 

Erik glanced at them, and sure, he could handle them. But could his well being? Probably not. Still, he nodded. “Sure, sure. Go on, we’ll catch up later.” 

It was an ordeal of goodbye hugs for a moment - his kids were all horribly dramatic, though Erik would deny any sort of involvement in that - but eventually, Erik managed to get them rounded up and in the line. It wasn’t too long a wait, which was a very good thing, because Pietro started going a little mad after half an hour or so. And Pietro even managed not to scream during the stretching room, even if he still clung to Erik’s hand a little tighter. Overall, Erik couldn’t complain. It was a smoother experience than he could have hoped. Until they were nearly at the front of the line and he heard a cast member reminding a family ahead of them that there needed to be an adult for every two children present. Erik glanced at his own kids and… yes. Still three of them and just one of them. Erik bit back a swear and wondered if the four of them could squeeze into one of the ride vehicles together, but… no. His kids were definitely too big to sneak in a third and get away with it. 

In normal families, this was perhaps an easy situation to resolve. Go up, explain the misunderstanding, and step to the side to wait until Magda to come back and do a child swap. But they’d been in line just about twenty minutes by now, and though it was a remarkably short wait for most, thirty minutes was just about Pietro’s limit before he started getting antsy and destructive. Erik glanced around, unsure what he was really looking forward, but noticed that the family behind them was a father and only one son. It was weird, Erik knew, but to keep peace among his children…

Erik swallowed his pride and turned to the stranger, hoping he was one of those people who got inexplicably cheerful in theme parks and not just crabby in the heat. “Hello. I realize this is an odd request to say the least, but there’s only two children per adult allowed, and, clearly, I have three, and you seem to have one. Can I perhaps convince you to pretend we’re one large family of two adults and four kids?”

In the stranger’s defence, he only looks mildly startled. “Oh! Are these three yours?” he asks, looking around Erik to the three Maximoffs. 

Erik is just glad that the children are somewhat behaving tonight and it isn’t one of those days when they’re walking around, covered in grime and trying to kill one another. “Yes, these three. You really don’t have to do much, just have our oldest ride with you and your son. It would be incredibly helpful to us.” 

“Of course she can ride with us. I’m Charles, by the way. And this is my son David. Pleased to meet you,” he says, shaking Erik’s hand. The boy - David - is just at surly teenager age and simply stands and stares until his father nudges him, which only earns them a half hearted wave. 

Erik isn’t too upset by it. Moody teenager or not, at least now they won’t have to deal with Pietro’s impatience. “I’m Erik. These are Anya, Pietro, and Wanda, my three oldest children. Anya is the oldest. She’ll be going on with you, if that’s okay.” 

“Of course. It’s very lovely to meet you, Miss Anya,” Charles says, shaking her hand. It makes her giggle, which is something, at least. Erik doesn’t want to deal with them suddenly being shy or throwing tantrums. 

“Hello, sir,” she says, politely shaking his hand in return. 

“Just Charles is fine,” he promises, and then they’re being ushered ahead to the front of the line, where they’re divided into two groups of three as they get into the ride vehicles. 

Erik spends half the ride paying attention to the twins and the other half focused in on the necklace around Anya’s neck, just to make sure she’s okay. There’s nowhere to go on the ride track, of course, and Erik’s usually a very good judge of character, or else he’d never trust a stranger with his daughter for even ten minutes, but he’d rather err on the side of paranoia. When the ride is over and they get off, though, there’s nothing but smiles and happy children. As soon as they’re off the conveyor belt, Anya runs over to hug him. 

“Did you get scared without me there to protect you, Papa?” she asks, glancing up at him. 

“Absolutely terrified,” Erik agrees. 

He bends down to let her climb on for a piggy back ride, which of course means the twins want to hop along as well, which is how Erik somehow finds himself with a child on his back and a twin at each hip. He doesn’t mind it all that much, honestly. By now, he’s grown proficient at having a child sitting at his neck, one on his back, and two at his side. He still hasn’t quite been able to figure out holding all five of them at once, but perhaps one day he’ll develop a new mutation and grow another set of arms. Charles has lingered, Erik notices, watching him with quiet amusement while his son next to him is almost certainly wishing he could die. Erik is oddly enough not too bothered by it. 

“You’re very talented at this,” Charles comments. 

Erik shrugs. “Father of five. Had to learn eventually.” 

“Goodness. I can barely handle one. You’re a brave man, old chap.” Charles starts walking towards the exit when Erik does and his mutation may have nothing to do with telepathy, but he can still tell when someone has something just at the tip of their tongue they mean to say. Finally, just before they cross the gate to leave the attraction once and for all, he says, “Your daughter mentioned  she was craving some ice cream after this, and really, so were David and I. Perhaps we can walk in that direction together? My treat, of course. It’s the least I can do for instilling thoughts of ice cream in your family’s head.” 

 

\-----

 

“Your daughter mentioned  she was craving some ice cream after this, and really, so were David and I. Perhaps we can walk in that direction together? My treat, of course. It’s the least I can do for instilling thoughts of ice cream in your family’s head.” 

It’s a horrendous chat up line. Absolutely terrible. Charles is almost ashamed it’s’ come out of his mouth. Though, of course, any chat up line in Disney World is probably bound to be terrible. But Charles still thinks he should do better. Thankfully, Erik the unfairly sexy single father just seems to find it funny. 

_ You’re gross, _ David says in his head.  _ He thinks you’re cute for some weird reason. _

_ Don’t go into strangers’ minds, David. It’s rude.  _ Charles scolds. He puts a bit of artificial shields on David for good measure and turns his attention back to Erik. People tend to get put off by telepathic conversations happening just in front of them, and Charles can’t quite say he blames them for it. Thankfully, Erik seems to have not noticed. 

“I think we could all go for ice cream,” Erik agrees. “Let me just get the rest of my family together.” 

Charles is over the moon for just a second, letting himself imagine that anything could really come out of all this and that it wouldn’t be absolutely creepy to have a fling in a children’s theme park. But at least getting some ice cream together gives him a few more minutes to admire from afar. His elation only lasts a few moments before he Erik is reunited with the rest of his family and Charles notices that’s not just two more children, but seemingly a wife as well. Oh. Well, that’s disappointing… Charles had simply assumed Erik was a single father but he sees now that perhaps it was just wishful thinking. David is laughing up a storm in his head, but thankfully, he remains quiet. Oh well. Charles is a man of his word and he’ll still treat them all to ice cream, of course. Even the wife. 

“Magda, this is Charles. Charles, this is Magda and my two youngest. Anya tagged along with him and his son so we wouldn’t have to wait longer to do a child swap,” Erik explains, setting the twins down, though Anya remains on his back. 

“Oh, thank you. Our children don’t do well with waiting,” she says, laughing softly as she stands up and gathers their things. 

“Quite all right,” Charles promises. His ego’s a bit bruised, but he still tries to be charming above all else, so he leans down to the toddler in the stroller, giving her a wave and gesturing to her hair. “What a lovely mutation. Does unusual hair coloring run in the family? I see the boy has it as well.” 

“Just those two, so far, though all of us but Magda are mutants,” Erik explains. He looks rather wary, and Charles can’t really blame him. Not everyone takes such news very well. 

Charles only smiles. “That’s fantastic. David and I, as well. We’re both telepaths, and he’s got a touch of telekinesis.” 

Wanda gasps, excited and latches onto David, eager to show someone older that she has telekinesis as well. She demonstrates, making a few pebbles off the ground float with a lovely pink glow. David just stares between her and his father, completely at a loss, but Charles sends him a stern  _ Be nice _ and the eight of them go on their way to the nearest ice cream stand where Charles pays what is really a ridiculous upcharge just because the ice cream is in the shape of Mickey Mouse, but it’s all very well received and he’s happy to do it. Even if the sexy single father was married, after all. 

“Now, kids, what do we say?” Magda insists, looking at all of them. They’ve all began eating already anyway and Charles doesn’t really mind, but there’s still a rowdy chorus of thank you’s. 

“Oh, it’s no problem at all. Now, David and I should be on our way, I suppose. I don’t want to intrude on your family time,” Charles says, gesturing a bit awkwardly between Magda and Erik. 

Erik hardly notices, too busy sharing tiny pieces of chocolate and ice cream with the toddler, but Magda just looks at him a bit strangely. Probably realized that he sort of fancied her husband. Oh well. Best to cut his losses. Charles waves goodbye to them and elbows David in the side until he, too, waves goodbye and heads off to let David drag them off to the next ride, probably a roller coaster of some sort, since that’s the only thing cool enough for him these days. They’re rounding a corner, and David is only teasing him a little bit through their telepathic bond, when Magda runs up to him, tapping his shoulder and passing him a crumpled up paper. 

“You left your receipt, Charles.”

“Oh. It’s really no bother, but thank you,” Charles says, tucking it away in his pocket. 

“Of course. Maybe take a look at it sometime today? Make sure to… you know, square away everything in your budget.” Magda nods, turning to go back to her family. Over her shoulder, she calls, “See you around!” 

David has started laughing, out loud this time, which no doubt means he’s seen something in her mind he’s not supposed to. Charles just frowns, more confused than before, and tugs them to the side so he can take the receipt out of his pocket. He smooths it out carefully and sees that there’s something scribbled on it. Some numbers and a message. Charles brings it closer to actually read it and - Oh.  _ Oh.  _

**Charles: Erik and I aren’t married. Happily divorced actually. Silly mutant dads who are just as oblivious as him are exactly his type. We’ll be here until the 28th. Give him a call!**

 

**Author's Note:**

> if it's not obvious, Magda and Erik are divorced and very good friends :') 
> 
> for questions, prompts, or chatting I can be found on tumblr at [sebbym17](http://sebbym17.tumblr.com/)


End file.
